The present invention relates to particulate detergent compositions and an improved process for making such compositions. The detergent compositions of the invention are suitable for any cleaning process, such as laundry and dishwashing detergent compositions. Such particulate compositions may be used directly in their particulate form or may first be formed into detergent tablets by any standard tabletting process such as compaction.
In order to meet the needs of the consumer, in addition to providing good cleaning, detergent compositions must meet many additional requirements including good aesthetics, good flow properties, good solubility and good dispensing performance into wash water. In order to meet all of these requirements, the complexity of detergent compositions and range of products offered has grown. Formulation flexibility for producing such complex compositions is therefore extremely important and many methods for formulating detergent compositions are already known.
In view of the high performance requirements of the consumer, achieving uniform dosage of all of the detergent actives in the composition has increased importance, in particular where sophisticated detergent ingredients present in detergents at low levels make a significant impact on one of the performance features mentioned above. This problem is exacerbated by the advent of xe2x80x9ccompactxe2x80x9d or low dosage granular detergent products. These low dosage detergents are currently in high demand as they conserve resources and can be sold is small packages which are more convenient for consumers prior to use. However, in a low dosage of detergent, where actives are present in very low levels, significant variability may occur in the concentration of such actives in each unit dosage. Performance problems have been identified with some compact detergent products and the present inventors have now found that this may be due to formulation variability where low level detergent ingredients which give a significant impact on one or more of the performance factors mentioned above may vary considerably from dose to dose.
The present invention therefore reduces these problems by providing a process in which such low dosage/high impact ingredients can be dispersed uniformly throughout a detergent formulation. Segregation is minimised without the need to incorporate high levels of fillers to form such low dosage/high impact ingredients into larger particles.
In accordance with the present invention there is now provided a method for making a detergent particles comprising selecting detergent base particles having a geometric mean particle diameter from 500-2000 microns, in a moderate to low shear mixer adhering detergent active particulates to the detergent base particles, wherein the detergent active particulates have a geometric mean particle diameter no greater than 40% of the geometric mean particle diameter of the detergent base particles and comprise a detergent active selected from perfumes, enzymes, photobleaches, catalysts, soil release polymers, suds suppressors, bleaching compounds, whitening agents and layered silicates.
The present invention also provides detergent particles produced by such a process, and detergent compositions incorporating these particles.
As used herein, it is intended to mean that a detergent active particulate is bound to the detergent base particulate, the two components subsequently appearing in a detergent composition as an individual detergent particle.